Am I being Mean?

I should have tried to put a link but I can rarely find old threads

I HATE HATE HATE that saying .....Charity begins where it is needed not in any particular country or area anyone who only believes in helping their own hasn't much of a heart
My grandson is raising money for a trip to South Africa to spend a month working with the street kids and helping build small homes for the elderly he ll be 16 when he goes These can be life changing events
Many years ago I helped my daughter raise £3000 to spend a year in Zimbabwe with a group assisting in schools She has always said it was the time in life she had nothing not even an electric light but she loved it the most

Are they still called chuggers when they go house to house? I heard the door bell go at 8.30 tonight. DH was upstairs watching the football. I had to answer the door as our new neighbour's daughter has a life-threatening heart condition and in an emergency she needs someone to look after her younger children.

I could see a shape with long dark hair through the glass and thought it was her.

But no! It was a Chinese girl, collecting for Guide Dogs, who launched into a spiel so I was taken unawares. I sent her packing as I think it's ridiculous to go knocking on doors, on dark winter nights at 8.30pm. There was a whole, noisy gang of them canvassing the street.

If they're providing a service for the money, what's the difference? No one's business, really, how they use their pay.

My area had that for a well known charity last year. Mostly elderly, many residents were very annoyed. Can't now remember the reply to my email but they haven't been this year.

Kilimanjaro seems to be a very popular destination, someone else I know is off there tomorrow (not the first person I know who has gone/is going). At this rate it will be worn out.

Chuggers annoy me; they are not supposed to approach you in the street so I am surprised one knocked on the door.

A group I belong to heard a very interesting talk by a local lady who fund-raises for the Guide Dogs Charity and trains dogs herself; we could donate if we wished and sign up for a direct debit if we wanted to. No pressure at all and I think everyone donated or signed up.

Chuggers are annoying but I feel sorry for them. They may be young people who have come out of university with a degree whose dreams were not to be pestering people to donate to charity. They may have had no choice but to take these jobs.

I'm friendly and polite but say at the outset that I won't sign up to these direct debit requests. I saw a programme on the TV which said that the first one or two years of your donations go to the "chugging company" employed by the charity. I realise that this is how the company makes a profit and pays its workers' wages but it is another tier of marketing administration that seems fairly pointless to me.